Gas turbine engines are used to power aircraft, watercraft, power generators, and the like. Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. The compressor compresses air drawn into the engine and delivers high pressure air to the combustor. In the combustor, fuel is mixed with the high pressure air and is ignited. Products of the combustion reaction in the combustor are directed into the turbine where work is extracted to drive the compressor and, sometimes, an output shaft. Left-over products of the combustion are exhausted out of the turbine and may provide thrust in some applications.
To withstand heat from the combustion products received from the combustor, the turbine may include blades made from ceramic-matrix composite materials that are able to interact with the hot combustion products. In some turbine wheels, the blades may be coupled to a metallic disk that supports the blades in a gas path leading out of the combustor. Coupling of the blades made from ceramic-matrix composite materials with metallic disks can present design challenges.